Melick spent most of his early life in the Midwest, primarily in Nebraska.[1] He attended the University of Nebraska, where he received a Bachelor of Science degree,[2] and then worked as a dairy husbandry assistant at the Kansas State Agricultural College Agricultural Experiment Station.[3] In 1905, he coached the track and field team at Kansas State. Melick is also credited as the first basketball coach in the Kansas State history, posting a 7–9 record in the 1905–06 season.[3] While working at Kansas State, Melick was credited with the invention of new drink he called "Kansas Ambrosia", a mixture of ice cream and buttermilk that could be "flavored to suit taste" and "served at all times."[4]
At the age of 29 in 1906, he moved to Maryland for work.[1] He worked at the Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station as a professor of dairyhusbandry.[5] While he worked at the Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station, Melick became the head coach for the Maryland Agricultural College (now University of Maryland) football team in 1907.[6] He hired Washington attorney Durant Church as an assistant coach, and Church tutored Curley Byrd in the art of kicking.[6] Byrd also assisted with coaching as both Melick and Church were often busy with their full-time professional jobs.[6]
Melick, a native of the then homogeneous Midwestern United States, was surprised at the state of race relations when he moved to Maryland, where about a quarter of the population was black. He wrote Some Phases of the Negro Question based on his observations in 1908, and in which he criticized racial integration.[1]
